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This article looks at the notion of 'risk' in the construction of the body as a spectacle. Its specific focus is on the body of the aerial acrobat and the production of an aesthetic of risk in the circus. The aim of the article is to understand the ways in which the illusion of risk is created in the circus, and how this fits into the framework of adventure-risk in society at large. In understanding how risk is created, we shall see that every risk has its counterpart in strategies of safety. We shall see that modernity's quest for thrills is linked to its concern for means of ensuring safety, though technologies of prevention, insurance cover, and rigorous training programs to ensure the technically perfect execution of skills. It is this concern for security which, paradoxically, makes an aesthetics of risk meaningful. Our research examines the point at which the aesthetics of risk is embodied in the body of the acrobat. We use a variety of research methods, including observation, field diaries, photography, image-searches, interviews and documents in the public domain. The questions we address are the following: what are the bodily risks of acrobatic shows? How are such risks used? How is it that sensitivity to bodily practices has changed so much? Our analytic path starts by contextualizing the notion of risk, then proceeds to characterize the spectacle of the circus, and continues through an account of the technical aspects of acrobatic skill. We arrive ultimately at our end-point: the 'aerial acrobat', which, in embodying the illusion of risk and the transcendence of human limits, stands as an example of contemporary subjectivity.

The first biannual Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization took place in Singapore at the end of 1996. The meeting was the focus of widespread expectation, because a lack of success might have damaged the credibility of this new international body. However, the Ministerial Declaration issued at the end of the meeting gave clear signs that the WTO had consolidated its position as an important forum for issues related to the multilateral system of trade. From the Brazilian perspective the results were satisfactory. Brazil's interests were largely safeguarded in issues such as the social clause and the formation of regional blocks and investments, although less so in the discussion of the built-in agricultural agenda. (Polit Externa/DÜI)

The article presents an overview of the first fifty years of the Brazilian Institute for International Relations. The Institute was founded as a civic organization with a cultural mandate, with the objective of carrying through, promoting, & stimulating studies on international problems, especially those that are of interest to Brazil. In reviewing the Institute's fifty-year record, the article presents data that demonstrates that the Institute's original objectives have been widely fulfilled. The Institute has always had a strong body of members, most of whom have contributed, to one degree or another, to the historical improvement in standards of research analysis & theoretical development, as well as the development of alternative policies in Brazil's foreign relations. The article concludes by detailing recent restructuring in the Institute, which is expected to make its performance even stronger. Adapted from the source document.